Projectile with a flared tailpiece

ABSTRACT

An existing projectile is adapted to a fire control computer instead of adapting the fire control computer to the ammunition, as has been the customary approach. The adaptation is carried out by providing the projectile with a different propellant charge powder but at least increasing the diameter of the flare while the length of the tail piece is kept constant.

This application claims priority from Provisional Application No. 60/790,712, filed Apr. 10, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a projectile, especially a training projectile, that can be fired from a weapon system with a fire control computer.

Training ammunition of this type is disclosed, for example, by DE 100 14 513 A1. Training ammunition with a flared tail piece with slots is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,160. DE 90 12 031 U1 describes a flared tail piece with holes.

As is well known, modern weapon systems have a fire control computer, which is adapted to each type of weapon and ammunition. Therefore, when new varieties and types of ammunition are introduced, the fire control computer requires complicated adaptation. In addition, one of the main considerations for training ammunition is economy. The adaptation is usually carried out in a permanent location, so that the fire control computers, including vehicles or the like, must be brought to a predetermined site and thus also become unavailable for practice purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide the possibility of adapting existing training ammunition with a flared tail piece and a fire control computer that is already present but not yet adapted to this training ammunition, and to allow this adaptation to be made in a way that takes economy into account.

The invention is based on the basic idea of adapting the existing training ammunition to the fire control computer instead of changing the fire control computer, as has been the approach until now. In this regard, it is necessary to take into consideration the complex interaction between the temperature behavior of the ammunition from −15° C. to 35° C., and the trajectory.

The adaptation is carried out by increasing the diameter of the flare while the length of the tail piece is kept constant and also possibly providing the training ammunition with a different propellant charge powder. Amazingly, it was found in practice that a complex adaptation to the temperature and trajectory behavior is achieved in this way, and only a trajectory error (at −15° C. to 35° C.) of less than 0.1 is possible. An “I” propellant charge powder is used as the new propellant charge powder instead of a simple propellant charge powder.

The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the specific embodiment illustrated in the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a prior-art projectile.

FIG. 1 a shows a tail piece.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a projectile, in this case a training round, according to the prior art, which consists of a flared tail piece 2 with slots 3 and other details that need not be considered in detail for the purposes of this explanation.

The tail piece 2 illustrated here, which has a flare of, for example, 78 mm, is replaced by a tail piece 2.1 (FIG. 1 a) with a larger flare of, for example, 88-94 mm. This is accomplished by screwing the tail piece 2.1 onto the cylindrical section 4 of the ammunition.

Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited but by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims 

1. A projectile which can be fired by a weapon system with a fire control computer, the projectile comprising an interchangeable flared tail piece and propellant charge powder whereby, instead of adapting the fire control computer to a new type of ammunition, the existing projectile is changeable by placing a new second flared tail piece with a different radius but the same length as a first flared tail piece on the projectile and changing a first propellant charge powder to a second propellant charge powder.
 2. The projectile according to claim 1, wherein the projective is a training projectile.
 3. The projectile according to claim 1 wherein the radius of the second flared tail piece is greater than the radius of the first tail piece.
 4. The projectile according to claim 1, including ammunition containing an I propellant charge powder.
 5. A projectile system comprising: a projectile body; propellant charge powder; at least two different flared tail pieces, the tail pieces each having a common length but a different radius; and a mechanism for selectively mounting one of the tail pieces to the body and changing the propellant charge powder so that the projectile is adapted to an existing fire control computer.
 6. (canceled)
 7. A method for adapting a projectile to a fire control computer, comprising: providing at least two different flared tail pieces, each having a common length and a different radius; providing at least two different propellant charge powders; selecting a tail piece and propellant charge powder suited to the fire control computer; and mounting the selected tail piece to the projectile.
 8. (canceled) 